Automate is being used by the support services department of the company. We are a managed services provider, so we manage all of our clients from within ConnectWise Automate. It allows us to easily connect to client machines and servers, run scripts against the machines to install applications, and assist with installing patches without manual intervention. It definitely helped cut back a lot on manual tasks, which saves the team a lot of time on more menial tasks. It allows us to devote more time to other issues instead of the various management tasks for machines we support.

Automated patching. The patch management is very robust and doesn't let us down. We can rely on it to do its job.

Scripting. The scripting engine and layout is excellent. It's very easy to work with and adapt Powershell scripts and other script to the native format with its functions. It also gives detailed logs to help determine why something went wrong if there's issues.

They have conflicting scheduling paradigms. When scheduling patching for clients, the 1st Friday is interpreted as the very first Friday of the month, even if this is the 1st of the month. For scripting, the 1st Friday of the month is interpreted as the 1st Friday of the 1st FULL WEEK of the month. This makes no sense to have two different interpretations, and makes it unreliable to schedule recurring scripts to fall when recurring maintenance does. The scripts need to be done manually because of this.

There is no way to dictate reboot orders for patch policies. This tied directly in with my first point. We have some clients that require reboot orders. This is not possible without having different patch policies for each server and specifying a time this way. But, there aren't small enough increments of time to make this reliable, plus patching duration might vary. Excluding reboots with patching and scheduling reboot scripts fixes this. However, this can't be done once on a recurring schedule due to the different scheduling paradigms already discussed. We have to schedule these manually each month.

ConnectWise Automate is a fantastic platform for managing multiple clients, and I feel this is why it was created in the first place. I have ready complaints about certain components and behaviors in the past online. However, it appears they have fixed these issues in later versions as we have not experienced them. It also has competitive pricing for RMM's for MSP's to use. It could also be used for a single company to manage their environment, but I don't think it was meant for this. There might be other options that are more cost effective, especially if a single company doesn't have hundreds of machines to manage or more.

We are an MSP who uses Automate to manage 3000+ endpoints. Automate handles Windows patching, alerting, remote access, among many other things for our business. It is our primary source of management for our users workstations and servers.

Automate is useful for managing a large number of endpoints. It is a bit overkill if you have a smaller number of users. Automate can be used for a variety of things from managing your internal IT assets to managing thousands of customer endpoints.

We use ConnectWise Automate as our RMM platform. We are happy with the product as a whole. We are using the on-premise version of the software. One complaint we do have is the slowness of the application. However, they are moving more and more functions over to the web URL. At one point, we switched from Labtech over to Kaseya. Kaseya was substantially less expensive, however, we ended up switching back to Labtech within 8 months due to the technical support and lack of features within Kaseya.

Well suited for managed service providers as well as larger companies with over 200 computer assets. Less appropriate for smaller companies or managed service providers that are doing more break-fix services and not real management. The software would work well in government or municipal entities in addition to MSPs.

ConnectWise has a CRM, ticketing system, help desk, and tools for project management, billing, and procurement. The business tool also has reporting and dashboards and uses over 300 third-party integrations.

ConnectWise gives businesses a complete business management and process automation platform for technology companies including IT service companies, professional services, software developers, security, and telecom. The workflow rules that are defined in ConnectWise cover various areas of the business, ranging from conducting targeted marketing campaigns to monitoring service delivery using service level agreements.

You can create work plans and project timelines and get detailed reporting on progress of projects. It’s also possible to use the workflow engine to manage deadlines and get notifications of overdue tasks.

It includes a ticketing system using workflow automation, SLA, as well as performance monitoring and access tickets from mobile devices.

Dashboards of the tool show overviews and detailed explanations of KPIs. Your business can also use the custom report writer to generate reports on whatever issue you want.

You can use ConnectWise to automate the range of ITIL process, such as: incident management, availability management, change management, service reporting, service-level management, service asset and configuration management, request management, and knowledge management.

You can track all your clients information and every single job you do for them. You can do quotes, send them, add providers to compare prices, manage the calendar of the employees, assign tickets to the correct person, there is nothing you can't do with this tool.

Inside all the greatness, there are some works around that you have to do for specific duties that could be automated.

Make sure you keep notes on each client profile, you can use the private note section, it is secure and it works as a reminder of everything you need to do about that specific client, only you and your employees will see those.

It allows your team to receive, process and respond to service requests quickly and efficiently thanks to the ticket system that comes with ConnectWise Manage and this application does not have a multi-channel communication, adding that you have to have a level of training for that application because if you do not have it, handling it will be quite difficult.

ConnectWise Automate is used in managing client systems as well as our own internal systems. Users in our support teams use it daily for access to and management of systems, alerting, and updates and users in an account management role also access it regularly for asset reporting and management.

The web client is not as full-featured as the local client but runs much faster.

Updates on the local client are installed automatically when you launch the application, but they can take some time to run. Since there is no option for a window to install them, this can cause delays when launching the software for the first time after a period of inactivity.

Automate integrates natively with the rest of the ConnectWise suite. If you are looking for a one-stop-shop, then Automate, Control and Sell are a great way to go. There are regular updates to the toolset, but because it has been around for so long certain aspects of it still seem quite dated. For example, the local client is not well optimized. The web version is making progress, but still lacking the ability to export asset reports called data views. Once all of the functionality from the local client is available on the web client that will make a significant difference.

RealTime, LLC uses ConnectWise Automate in our managed services department. Automate provides rich data, simple endpoint management, and allows RealTime to automate tasks that were out of reach prior to changing to Automate about 7 years ago. The primary uses are patch management, VMware management, automation, client onboarding, cybersecurity solutions deployment, reporting data, and tight integration with our PSA, ConnectWise Manage. Remote control via ScreenConnect, or Connect I think it's called now, is pretty seamless and we even have one-click access to backstage when using the web version of Automate. Security-wise, we use AD integration and Two-factor authentication to secure our connections to the tool in and out of the office.

If you decide to hitch your MSP to ConnectWise Automate, make sure you have a clear plan of what you want to accomplish and please, save your self a ton of hassle and use ConnectWise consulting to get things going initially.

Conflicting answers from support on more complicated items.

Not sure if this applies, but you need to have someone at your MSP whose job is the care and feeding of Automate, as well as that script and automation creation. Not really a complaint, more along the lines of "you are buying a business automation platform, you need to dedicate people to get the most out of it."

Mature MSP's can't go wrong selecting Automate as their RMM tool, as long as you dedicate qualified personnel to get the most out of the product. It is well suited for in house, or co-managed IT. We let some in house IT staff use Automate for their internal use and if they invest the time in learning the basics, it is a good value add. It often just ends up being the way they remote into their computers.

Startup MSP's, or those who just don't understand the value of automation - Automate isn't for you. You can get some good value out of it, but the complexity and cost may outweigh the benefits if you just don't have the scale or dedicated, skilled resources to really get the most out of the product.

New UI is built to be pretty, but it's bloated, slow, and lacks the information that used to live on the main screen. You now have to dig to get information that was once easily at hand...

Too Noisy - it alerts on EVERYTHING, and it's very difficult to tone it down without missing things that are important. This puts a drain on staff time... We can't respond to every ticket, and then important details get lost in the noise...

We use ConnectWise within our managed services department and also for our internal IT operations. We use ConnectWise to provide remote support for end users' computers. In additional to remote control capabilities we use ConnectWise for patch management and remote monitoring. ConnectWIse is great since it provides a CRM platform and you don't have to purchase a separate CRM platform.

ConnectWise is great for MSPs and internal IT departments. It provides great reporting to see where the problem areas are and how to resolve them. It's great for those companies that have nationwide deployments and help IT departments to resolve end users' issues remotely.

Our organization uses ConnectWise Automate as a central point for end-user support and automation management. We leverage Automate as a scripting repository which provides us with the flexibility to apply configurations based on machine information such as installed applications, site where the machines are located at, and other parameters such as resources available. Automate allows us to 'script it once' and deliver many times, as a managed services provider, this is of crucial importance as it is a multitenant architecture which we can apply to all of our customers based on service tiers that they have signed up for.

We use Automate every day to provide our customers with support. We use it to remote control, automate maintenance tasks, monitor our clients' systems. It is an essential part of how we do business. Our business would not be successful without this application and the rest of the ConnectWise suite of products.

ConnectWise Automate solves our ability to provided scripted resolution to repetitive tasks for all of our clients. Regardless of the client or physical location ConnectWise Automate is the tool that allows us to perform a consistent task, document the work, and send the necessary details of it to billing. Network Services Group deploys it to every client. It is part of our comprehensive support stack.

ConnectWise Automate solves all of our inventory and network health issues. We have deployed it in multi-site, wide area networks to provide common critical desktop support and automation tasks. Integrations available for ConnectWise Automate further extend its abilities into areas outside of common desktop management. Its powerful scripting capabilities with back-end data aggregations provide the core of its features.

Our entire Service Team uses ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech). It gives us the power to automate the management of a greater number and broader range of endpoints, maximizing our efficiency and our profitability. We use the scripting and numerous connected products, such as Warranty Master and ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect). Screens like Dataviews and tabs like Hardware are immensely useful.

When we first started using Automate we used it for all of our clients. However, we have now brought that down to just a few due to the cost of the product. We still actively use it today for a handful of servers.

It is great if you need a solution to automate computer processes like updating computers and applications. It's also useful if you need alerts sent to a centralized location. The fact it also utilizes ConnectWise Control to remote into computers is also very nice.

It is not really an appropriate product for those who do not have more than 100 client's machines to manage.

We use Automate as one of our tools to provide Managed Services to our client base. It is used for patch management, system monitoring and alerting, remote control, scripting and asset management. We install Automate on all managed servers and workstations.

Scripting in Automate is very comprehensive and flexible. Other tools we've used pale in comparison to the scripting in Automate.

Remote control is 2nd to none. Screen Connect has proven to be incredibly fast and stable. This is a significant improvement over the old LabVNC in previous versions of Automate

The ability to group things manually and dynamically. Being able to automatically add systems to groups based on some criteria (almost anything) and then run scripts or commands against those groups is a huge benefit. A great example is adding machines to a group based on anti-virus install. If a machine doesn't have AV installed it gets added to a group. The group is setup to run a script at some frequency to install AV.

The biggest issue for Automate is their support. They seem to be completely overwhelmed. Chat support for simple questions can be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes in the queue. Then when you are connected they are doing little more than creating a ticket that will take days to hear back from them.

Patching. The documentation and advice from our implementation person do not match reality. The process of denying a patch is documented, but doesn't work. We were unable to block certain patches from being distributed until we spoke to a specialist about it. He couldn't explain the mis-matched documentation.

Speed. Using the Automate client is painfully slow. Very sluggish and non-responsive at times.

I can only speak from a Managed Service Provider point of view. The tool is certainly well suited to provide RMM and patching for an MSP or other IT service provider. Automate would likely work well in an enterprise environment especially organizations with multiple remote locations/users that may not be connected via a VPN.

I'm a sole proprietor and ConnectWise makes it possible for me to connect with my clients from home, across the United States and Canada. ConnectWise allows me to connect with clients and see their specific issues first hand. I am also able to save clients money for training that would have to be done on site because I am able to connect to their individual workstations and to do program training with the individual or group remotely at their convenience.

Allows me to download files from a toolbox feature or drag and drop from my server to their system.

Gives an easy to use client access window to easily find different clients and groups.

Simple to use, install and work with. Unlike many other programs of its type, it is easy to generate an email invitation to a client to connect or give them a simple code to connect. Also has the ability for me to share my screen with clients for training and demonstrations.

Possibly allowing the chat box to remain on screen. It closes when you connect to a program or open windows on the screen.

Allow more than 1 username/ password to be stored for the auto access. Notes made on different machines seem to disappear if there is an upgrade. I lost some notes I had made on sites I support using this feature.

If you need 24 hr access to a client, ability to access workstations and have the same abilities as if you were physically there. Also, could be the less appropriate for organizations with multiple employees wherein having this type of access may be in violation of privacy of the client, or employees that can access client information inappropriately. I work in the medical field, and due to HIPPA, this could be a problem if I had employees that were not HIPPA trained or certified.

I love ConnectWise. It was a little cumbersome at first to deploy but it works great as a support tool across the organization. I have a lot of remote users who I support with it and sometimes due to bandwidth I may get disconnected but other than that it is great. It is very user-friendly once you surpass the small learning curve.

We used Connectwise Automate for many years. The product handles remotely monitoring PCs & Servers for any problems that match the automation either built-in or created in Automate. The problem solved is monitoring all the endpoints in a way no human could.

Because Automate is so configurable it also requires the most time put into it of all RMM products we have used. It requires a dedicated employee to just managing the product and the services provided by it. Without that dedicated resource, many alerts will be missed (due to configuration issues).

Support is not very good. This is a larger scale Connectwise issue.

The product is very resource intensive if you host locally. Upgrades are usually pretty buggy and add the need for extra resources.

We found VMware and Dell Open Manage monitoring to be very weak compared to other RMM products.

Connectwise Automate is a good solution if you have a trained technician in Automate available to dedicate himself to the product. If that tech is also trying to support customers most of the day, the Automate maintenance and customization will be left behind and you will suffer from that. This is probably a better choice for larger more established companies that have the ability to dedicate resources.

ConnectWise Automate is a great tool to remotely manage your client base. It helps manage Windows updates across your clients and allows you to remotely install/uninstall software sometimes. It can give you details about what is installed on a system, you can see printers and storage space. It gives you so much information.

ConnectWise Automate is used by our organization to allow our engineers to do 99% or their job remotely. We use it to monitor the status of computers, maintain software, and maintain a clean patching environment. It does its name justice as it allows us to automate a good portion of our environment.

ConnectWise Automate is well suited for a large scale environment with multiple clients. A Managed Service Provider would benefit greatly from software like this. Your clients can have access to their computers as well which can help them manage their machines as well. ConnectWise Automate would not be ideal for a small company as it primarily caters to the management of a large scale organization.

If you are tasked with managing a large IT network, or a multi-domain/multi-client group of systems, there really aren't many better options out there. Automate, when configured properly, can handle patching, scripting, on board and off boarding of clients, and give you greater insight into your client's pain points via reporting and monitoring.

I think it is well suited for any MSP. We like being able to set up our clients that have in-house IT with their own login so they can access their in-house computers quickly and still have our Windows patching and alerting. I don't know where it would be less appropriate but I feel you do have to have a dedicated technician to manage Automate.

About ConnectWise Automate

ConnectWise Automate, formerly LabTech, is an IT management tool that helps deliver IT services. The vendor says their remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform provides powerful automation to discover and manage devices, monitor for problems, and automate action. According to the vendor, this solution enables users to deliver streamlined reactive and proactive managed services, stop putting out fires, and start focusing on what matters most.